NEWS

The Women, Money, & Democracy Committee Re-Envisions Itself

By Marybeth Gardam
Women, Money, and Democracy Committee

February 2022

On January 29, the Women, Money & Democracy held its second Committee Planning Retreat.
The members have committed to doing their economic justice work through gender equity and racial justice lenses. What does that mean?   

According to Committee Chair Marybeth Gardam, it means the committee members committed in October to intentionally build-in critiques and evaluations of their project based on how relevant they really are to people at the bottom of the economic ladder, who are most affected by economic injustice... and how to make them more accessible to communities of color and people in poverty.  

The current projects include:

• Revising and updating Challenging Corporate Power: Assert the Peoples’ Rights materials.
• Lifting up the possibility of a Caring Economy to Flip the Switch On A Sexist, Racist Economy through the committee’s partnership with An Economy of Our Own.  
• Advocating for Public Banking across the country with a Public Banking Toolkit and a 6-session series Women’s Learning Circle to train and organize activists. 
• Re-Envisioning a More Just Monetary System.  

The committee began to re-evaluate current projects at the November 2021 and January 2022 planning retreats and contemplated what possible new projects/issues they might be missing. They considered new Leadership models and meeting structures to make their work more effective. And they managed to build in some fun with the planning.  

What’s next for WILPF US’s Women, Money & Democracy Committee? Stay tuned. The W$D Committee includes brilliant women from across the US and meets via Zoom every third Tuesday at 8 p.m. eastern. If you are interested in joining W$D, contact Marybeth Gardam at mbgardam@gmail.com.
 

Marguerite Adelman and Pat Elder taking a water sample at Camp Ethan Allen Training Site, Jericho, VT. Photo by Bob Adelman

By Barbara West
WILPF Maine and Pat Elder, Military Poison Project

WILPF US Documents Military Poisons in Maine’s Waters

Testing in the Androscoggin River

Thanks to the generous financial support of WILPF US and the efforts of WILPF members Barbara West and Martha Spiess, we were able to document high levels of carcinogenic PFAS in the waters of the Androscoggin River in Brunswick, Maine. PFAS are otherwise known as per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, and they have been used in firefighting foams on military installations since the 1970s. The Military Poisons project of the WILPF US Earth Democracy Committee teamed up with Friends of Merrymeeting Bay to test the surface waters running off of military bases.
This is an example of all of us being citizen scientists. The WILPF members who participated in this Earth Democracy project are regular activists, just like all WILPF members.

PFAS Contamination: water, deer, eggs, and milk:

The team documented high levels of the toxins, highlighting the dangers of consuming fish from the contaminated waters. One test of a stream flowing out of the former Brunswick Naval Air Station into the Androscoggin River showed 1,662 parts per trillion of PFAS, a staggering amount for surface water.

Yet, still to this day, the Department for Environmental Protection does not have PFAS guidelines for surface water, even though press coverage reported that the chemicals impact human fertility, cholesterol, immune system, and hormone levels. Alarmingly, a Maine environmental official said the WILPF results were similar to a Navy test of the same stream in 2018.

It is also distressing to know that deer in some parts of Maine are so heavily contaminated that the state has advised the hunters not to eat the meat. And, alarmingly, eggs and milk have also been found in the state with toxic levels of PFAS.

“We think this is an excellent project for WILPF members,” said Barbara West (in green sweater). Martha Spiess agreed, saying, “It’s really not too involved. You submerge the cup into the water and let it drain through the filter, and then you mail it to the lab.”

Left: WILPF members Martha Spiess and Barbara West collect a water sample in Maine to document PFAS concentrations from military activities.

For more information or contributions to this ongoing testing program, contact Nancy Price with the WILPF US Earth Democracy Committee at nancytprice39@gmail.com.

The Vermont PFAS/Military Poisons Coalition
A comprehensive state-wide project of WILPF Burlington and Earth Democracy

By Marguerite Adelman

Marguerite Tabling at Burlington, VT Art Hop. Photo by Bob Adelman

Our 2022 Action Agenda

The Vermont PFAS/Military Poisons Coalition, a project of WILPF Burlington and WILPF US Earth Democracy, is starting work on its 2022 action agenda. 

Since its inception more than a year ago, the coalition has been working to educate the public about PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) more commonly known as “forever chemicals,” and to mobilize grassroots, intersectional advocacy to demand public and environmental health action on PFAS chemicals.

We starated the year by sending a petition and email to every legislator in Vermont's Senate and House. The petition, currently signed by 199 Vermonters, demands more aggressive PFAS legislation in Vermont and recommends (10) pieces of must-pass PFAS legislation. 

First, legislation to ban the entire class of PFAS chemicals (a number of toxic compounds approaching five thousand) in Vermont, including the manufacture and inclusion of PFAS in all consumer and industrial products sold in or otherwise imported into Vermont, including AFFF (Aqueous Film Forming Foam). 

Second, to prohibit landfills, refineries, and other industries from dumping any and all forms of treated or untreated industrial leachate into municipally-owned sewers and wastewater treatment plants and/or public waterways, and

Third, to prohibit municipalities and private waste processors from dumping sewage sludge and septage on federal, public, and private land in Vermont or neighboring states.

The result: A number of Vermont Senators and Legislators have contacted us and expressed interest in drafting and pushing additional PFAS legislation. Other proposed legislation concerns remediation and cleanup of PFAS, litigation, testing, and more. We hope to start meeting with legislators in late January.

Our coalition has also conducted citizen science, using affordable PFAS water testing kits from Cyclopure. With a grant from WILPF US to Pat Elder’s Military Poisons Project, we were able to test two military locations in Vermont and one military Superfund Site in New York that flows into our common body of water: Lake Champlain. As reported by Seven Days and Vermont Digger, we have found concerning levels of PFAS near both military installations.

Like Governor Whitmer of Michigan (October 27, 2021), our coalition also calls upon Governor Phil Scott to issue and sign an Executive Directive limiting state purchases of products containing PFAS. Governor Scott can easily take this action on behalf of our environment without going through the legislature. In fact, any Governor can do this.  We've been getting our Commentary and Editorial on this issue printed across the state.

You Can Pressure Your Own Governor: You can use our Op-Ed and/or Commentary and pressure your governor to do the same. Governors can act much more quickly than state legislators can, and using the pressure of a state’s purchasing power can get manufacturers to take action sooner.

Be Your Own Media: Given the lack of investigative journalists and the difficulty of getting media coverage in our small state for PFAS, we use social media, Op-Eds, and Editorials to educate the public and stir them to action. Coalition members have committed to writing various topical PFAS editorials and commentaries between January and May of 2022. We are doing research on the topics we want to highlight and the legislation we want to see passed. 

Probably in June of 2022, we are planning a Summit on Water.  Part of our goal is to bring all groups that are working on water issues together at this summit to report on what they are doing.  We’ll also invite the public and legislators.  We want this summit to look at the big picture on water and to see ways we can gain traction by working together.

In the meantime, we will continue to distribute our PFAS educational materials to libraries, city halls, and other groups around the state. 

Be the media and organize in your community. If you’d like to know more especially about how to organize in your community on PFAS, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We have sample letters to the editor, op eds, and our PFAS petition. We are happy to share our work with WILPF members across the country. Contact me, Marguerite Adelman, WILPF Burlington, at madel51353@gmail.com and go to Military Poisons to read Pat Elder’s articles and click on states and go to Vermont.

Contact Congress and take other nonviolent action to promote peace, disarmament, and diplomacy as solutions to the Ukraine crisis.

The WILPF US statement reaffirms our opposition to war and militarism to accomplish political goals. 

We must use the people’s power as this crisis continues and shifts!  

See below for our 1, 2, 3 list of actions you can take individually. And find there important Ukraine background information.

Continue local branch and group “visibility actions” – and take photos of your actions to share with and encourage others.

Be organized and visible as a group in your community!

Gather with other WILPF members and take to the streets. Hold visibility actions by holding signs and banners in well-trafficked areas such as major intersections or highway overpasses. Help raise awareness and urge the President to use diplomacy to prevent a war with Russia. Make your own signs: “No war over Ukraine”, “Stop the NATO expansion”, etc. 

Take photos of your action and send them as jpegs with who-what-when-where information to our social media coordinator nfortuno.abeleda@gmail.com and to michael@teamgood.org for our website. Post them on https://www.facebook.com/groups/wilpfsmart/

Taking individual action is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

One petition to sign

The United Nations Security Council met on January 31 about this Ukraine issue, but no resolution was reached. Diplomatic processes must be used to back away from armed conflict. Visit this link to look for and sign the petition to President Biden and UN Secretary General António Guterres, urging them to continue to work on diplomatic solutions.

Two phone calls to make regarding H.R.6470: Stop the arms shipments!

Call Speaker Pelosi's Office (202) 225-4965 and say: Do not bring H.R. 6470 to the floor. We must stop, not increase, the arms shipments to Ukraine. This is a dangerous bill that threatens to plunge us into another war by further weaponising Eastern Europe.

Phone your Congressional Representative and say: I ask you to NOT sign on to Congressman Meek's dangerous legislation H.R. 6470 to further embroil the U.S. militarily, but to introduce legislation supporting a moratorium on NATO expansion.

You can read this new bill here.

Three or more letters to write

Easily write to your two senators and congressional rep by going to this website and filling out their form. Or you can copy their letter, revise it into your own words, and send it via your political representatives’ own websites (it’s time to bookmark those on your computer!)

Here is a fine opening line: I insist, as your constituent, that you must do everything in your power to prevent war in Ukraine. Write a similar letter to the President here:

We also ask you to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Here is an opening paragraph: We residents of town name must call out the warmongers in Congress, if the Ukraine crisis escalates into a full armed conflict between Russia and the U.S. we could see nuclear missiles raining down on OUR town! We must urge our political representatives to advance peace through diplomacy. The corporations who provide military materials to the U.S. government spend millions of dollars every year lobbying our congressional reps so they will authorize more money for buying the corporations’ weapons. We must counter that pernicious cycle with our loud voices.

Background Information: Some Reasons for This Situation

We, in WILPF US, are appalled by the current situation and crisis developing in Ukraine. Both the USA and Russia are posturing to confront each other with no regard for the welfare of the people of Ukraine. WILPF has been working for peace and justice since our founding in 1915, when we met with representatives of the “belligerent” nations who were, at that time, waging World War I on battlefields in Europe.

Governments and the press claim philosophical and political differences between Ukraine and Russia are driving this conflict. However, the underlying causes are yet another egregious example of the evils of patriarchy and militarism. This time the Ukrainian people are caught between the interests of two waning superpowers. We recognize that the people of the Ukraine, like the people of Cuba and Haiti in our own hemisphere, are ill served by the militarism and competing – but mutually reinforcing – white supremacy of Russia and the USA.

The actions and counteractions by Russia, the USA, and some European countries, have been prime examples of the war system that puts profit and power ahead of people. WILPF advocates for system change, for growing a peace culture and for an economic system that mitigates climate change.

Lost in media discussions of this conflict are the underlying issues around fossil fuel distribution and fledgling democratic movements in Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Ukraine.

We must de-escalate the situation now. Thousands of nuclear weapons are primed for use by both the USA and Russia. These nuclear weapons could annihilate much of life on Earth.

An official WILPF US statement, for release to the press, is forthcoming.

To see that WILPF US is in agreement with our sister WILPF sections, please read this statement issued by our European sections. They recognize that genuine security can be built only on a long-term positive and common vision for peace, equality, and justice, put into practice.:

Thank you from your DISARM/End Wars Committee for taking action on the Ukraine situation.

Contact disarmchair@wilpfus.org with any questions.

WILPF relies on the commitment of volunteers in committees to advance our work. The committees function within the guidelines and best practices approved by the national Board. Click here to see these guidelines.

WILPF program and issue work primarily takes place within our issue committee. All WILPF US members are welcome to join any issue committee. For further information about the functioning, organization, and current  issue committees see here.

WILPF US members are also welcome to join many of our national ad hoc committees. Additionally, some of the standing committees of the Board seek qualified members. For more information about about openings in ad hoc committees and standing committees of the Board, email Secretary@wilpfus.org.